


stay

by orphan_account



Series: underneath the rising sun [1]
Category: Electronic Dance Music RPF
Genre: Icy Hugo is my jam y'all, Joshua Tree National Park, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-03-06
Packaged: 2018-09-30 00:17:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10148471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: "It’s quiet in the desert. Anton leans back against the hood of the vintage Chevy he borrowed and hasn’t given back yet and watches."The companion fic to Gemma's beautiful"Stay" moodboard!!<3





	

_Anton handed Hugo a drink, and he took it with a raised eyebrow. “Thank you.” Hugo took a sip of it and glanced down at the dark liquid. “What’s in it?”_

_“It’s a rum and cola,” Anton replied, fixing one for himself before sitting down next to Hugo. “Listen, we need to talk.”_

_Hugo’s brows creased. “Anton, it was over a year ago.”_

_“I know.”_

_“ **And** it was a mistake.” Hugo stood and downed the rest of his drink. “Thanks for the drink,” he said, his voice as icy as the cubes at the bottom of his glass._

_Anton was left sitting on the couch with an empty glass in front him and an equally empty house._

 

Xxx

 

            It’s quiet in the desert. Anton leans back against the hood of the vintage Chevy he borrowed and hasn’t given back yet and watches. He watches the stars that wheel high overhead in brilliant sparks of white and watches the animals who have made this park their home and watches the way the dome with perfect acoustics is just barely visible across the miles that separate him from it.

            It’s quiet, and it mirrors the quiet of his mind.

            No matter how many times Anton’s tried to explain it to an equally many number of people, none of them have understood. He’s begun to gather that it’s something that just doesn’t happen to them, how for them their minds grow louder instead of quieter.

            Anton sits up and gets back into the car. He doesn’t quite remember if he’s allowed to have a car in this part of the park, so he sits in the driver’s seat for some minutes and _tries_ to remember the rules. But nothing comes besides the feel of the worn leather steering wheel beneath his fingers and the warmth of the idling engine.

            He decides to get out of the car and notices the jacket he left in the back seat. He grabs it and wraps it around himself, and the warmth clears his mind a little. The temperature’s dropped over a dozen degrees since nightfall and Anton’s thankful he remembered at some point or another to toss the jacket in.

            There’s a flashlight in the back, so he brings that too. He turns it on and shuts off the engine and leaves the car, heading towards the building he remembers.

            Anton _remembers_ it, so he’s going.

            It’s rocky ground, so the flashlight comes in helpful as Anton treks through the park. He comes across a trail about half an hour in that seems to lead in the right direction, so he follows it. The ground climbs steadily uphill, and Anton’s thankful by this point that he didn’t bring the car.

            Eventually, he’s standing at the door of the dome. He takes a little time to sneak around and see if there’s anybody he’s going to disturb when he enters, but thankfully there’s no one.

            It’s pretty similar to how Anton remembered it. The interior is light wood, and the many windows have become dark holes in the room that’s lit from the inside. Anton does a full circle and takes in the little things that have changed before he sits down right underneath the center of the dome.

            A few hours later someone new arrives. Anton hears their soft footsteps and opens his eyes to see Hugo standing at the entrance.

            “Anton?” He asks, voice as soft as his steps.

            Anton doesn’t respond.

            “Are you okay?”

            Still nothing.

            Hugo sits down next to Anton, and they sit in silence until the night sky begins to lighten.

            “I’m sorry,” Hugo sighs as the sunrise paints the desert pink. Anton remains watching the way the colors change and doesn’t respond. “Are you going to be alright?”

            Anton’s voice is a rough from disuse when he finally answers. “I think so,” he says and Hugo’s slightly worried smile turns as bright as the sun that’s beginning to appear over the tops of the mountains.

            “Good.” Hugo stands and helps pull Anton up and out of the position he’s been in for a good portion of the night. “Come on, we should probably head back. I owe you a drink, after all.”

            There’s a tourist couple standing outside the dome, and they blink in surprise and confusion when Hugo and Anton exit. “It isn’t open yet,” one of them says, and both Anton and Hugo respond in unison.

            “We know.”

            The walk back to the car is both longer and shorter this time. It’s more distance than Anton had previously estimated, but Hugo’s presence makes the sore feet and hot sunshine pass by more quickly than last night.

            They climb one final hill and are able to look down and see where Anton parked the car last night. “Oh my God!”

            Hugo raises an eyebrow. “Mon Dieu what?”

            _“I stole the car from the ‘Starving’ video!”_ Hugo’s jaw drops and he races over to get a better look.

            “Holy shit, you weren’t joking!” Hugo bursts into laughter.

            Anton drags his palms down his face. “Fuck, Michael’s going to murder me.”

            “Better not run over any cacti on the way out then monsieur!”

            “Shut the hell up.”

            Anton manages to get the Chevy out of the area without a scratch, which Hugo insists means he’s making Anton a drink when they get back.

            It’s nowhere near a full apology yet, but it’ll do.

            They head into a nearby town in search of food. Anton searches on Yelp for a breakfast place while Hugo drives. Eventually they pull up outside the family-run restaurant Anton convinced Hugo to take them to based upon the fact that “they have homemade fruit preserves!” Although homemade preserves do sound very convincing, Hugo knows he’s lost from the moment Anton’s face lights up when he reads the reviews.

            It’s in the middle of a bite of French toast that inspiration strikes. Anton must have made a surprised noise because Hugo pauses across the table from him. “Pass me a pen!” Anton exclaims once he’s finished chewing. Hugo cautiously slides one over, and Anton starts writing on the receipt the waitress dropped off a few minutes prior: _“We can stay forever young/Living on my sofa, drinking rum and cola/Underneath the rising sun/I could give a thousand reasons why/But you’re going, and you know that.”_ It isn’t the beginning or the ending of a song, but it’s _something,_ and when Anton shows the hastily scrawled lyrics to Hugo and the other ruffles his hair Anton can’t help but be a little bit proud.

            The drive back to Los Angeles isn’t quiet, and it’s something Anton thinks he could get used to.


End file.
